Recently i have noticed the yellow traction control thing blipping up a bit more often. (more often than it did but i put this down to ice/frost/oil etc)

Tonight for the first time since buying the car i was seriously concerned as to its handling ability. I was entering Tesco carpark and cornered. the car understeered horrifically and i basically slid sideways (both back and front) for a little bit until the car pulled itself back together.

Upon leaving i entered a roundabout (traffic circle for you silly americans) and the car again understeered rather badly and i slid sideways a little bit..

i pulled over into a service station and checked the front and rear tires. Loads of tread left.


its 6 degrees centigrade here but it scared the bejesus out of me. The car has been so stable and so sure of itself even when cornering absurdly hard but this genuinely surprised me.

Has anyone else experienced this with runflats at around 20k miles? I need to check the tread on the rear but the front is definitly ok. (a quick inspection showed the rears were fine)

 

This happened to me with my runflats at around 19,000 miles. I had noticeable wear at that point. I recently replaced them with Pirelli M/S Nero's, all-season performance tire. I have been real happy with them. I got to use them in the snow today and they def had more traction than the runflats.

 

No matter how silly to you, we Americans know OVERSTEER when we hear about it.

Cheers,
Ray Hull

 

My Dunlops at 15k where getting dangerous IMHO. I've ditched the runflats and haven't looked back for a second!

 

My Dunlops at 15k where getting dangerous IMHO. I've ditched the runflats and haven't looked back for a second!
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I think the problem is the temperature now that winter is approaching. 6 degrees C, (hold on a minute....6*9/5+32= 54/5+32= 10.8+32= 42.8 F....OK) or 42.8 degrees F is getting close to the lower range of operating temperature for summer tires. I have always had problems when it got cold as the tires would not stick when driven the same way I normally drive in the summer. Even though 42.8 degress sounds warm enough after you have driven 5-10 minutes, these tires are not good for cold weather or for snow. Drive slower until spring or change the tires to something that stays softer when it gets cold.
Also check the tire pressure and wheel alignment.

 

it wasnt oversteer. ive felt oversteer when the back end of a porsche decided to play silly buggers with me.

i know understeer because i had a vw polo with 2 inch wide tires on it and was FWD.


it sort of understeered at first and then the rest of the car followed. its very hard to describe

 

Size and brand of your cars tyres?

 

goodyear rf's i believe

whatever comes standard on a 525i m sport so 18" jobbies. (ill check later and post if really needed)

 

Done 17K on mine. Rears are getting low. Fronts are fine.

Rears have never felt like they have much grip, especially on bumpy roads. I'm looking to see if there's a better performing RF tyre. Current ones are GY NCT

 

The runflats are just too hard a compound for our UK cold temps. Mine used to skip over potholed roads and judder and act really weird, it made me believe it was a characteristic of the car until I switched mine out for (non-RFT) Conti Sport Contact 2s on my 19s.

Wow, even now in 3 degrees centigrade weather, when the contis are meant as a summer tyre, they grip sooo much better than the Goodyear NCT RFT

I think over time RFT rubber compounds will improve but as at today they are not a true driving enthusiasts tyre yet